hello to you. i am ben thompson. welcome to the programme. even by the standards of american school shootings, it was grim 19 students and two teachers killed by a gunman. but what was also shocking about events at the robb elementary school in uvalde, texas, was the police s failure to take prompt action. in the last couple of hours, we have had the department ofjustice report into that failure. it says officers failed to accurately assess the situation. they say it took more than an hour to confront and kill the gunman despite the presence of dozens of law enforcement officials. the us attorney general merrick garland has been in uvalde, where he saw some of the murals that have been created in memory of those who died. he also met survivors and some of the families of those who lost their lives. afterwards, at a news conference, he had this message for the entire country. the law enforcement response at robb elementary school on may 2a, 2022, and in the hours and days af
new figures here in the uk show that the rate at which prices are rising has fallen sharply, hitting single figures for the first time since last august. the annual rate for april fell to 8.7%, down from 10.1% in march, but still higher than predicted. a quick global comparison in the us, the rate of inflation stood at 4.9% in the 12 months to april, falling for the tenth month in a row. the eurozone rate rose slightly in april to 7%, but that figure is still down from 8.5% in february. the bbc s economics correspondent andy verity explained. if you want to be half full, at least it s in single digits now. for three months in a row, it s defied expectations it would drop into the single digits, and it stayed in double digits. so that has been coming down, and there are some nice signs like for example, petrol is cheaper than it was a year ago, some second hand cars have been coming down in price, and generally goods price inflation, which has been driving this, has subsid
we begin in the us, where the treasury secretary janet yellen has sounded a stark warning over the country s debt ceiling. this is the amount of money the us government is allowed to borrow to pay for pretty much everything they do. speaking to abc, she says that if lawmakers fail to raise that ceiling the us could be left unable to pay its bills by the beginning ofjune. it is congress s job to do this. if they fail to do it, we will have an economic and financial catastrophe that will be of our own making and there is no action that president biden and the us treasury can take to prevent that catastrophe. russ mould is investment research director at aj bell. we have been here before. all of the same warnings that the us could tape off a cliff if it doesn t raise the debt ceiling and yet more warnings. yes, we have and i think the us debt ceiling has been raised 75 or 80 times in its history and we have had eight government shutdowns while a new debt ceiling has been wor
business stories. i m sally bundock. we start here in the uk, and what else but the coronation of his majesty king charles? as we ve been hearing, it s been an historic weekend, from the pomp and pageantry and a bit of rain on saturday to a day of street parties and a night of fantastic music to round off the celebrations. all driving some serious weekend spending, predicted by retailers to be worth something in the region of almost £1.8 billion. but as many continue to struggle with the current high cost of living, how long can the spending optimism last? katrina bishop is from consumer research company niq. let s talk this through. katrina, a warm welcome to you. morning. katrina, a warm welcome to you. morninu. ., . , , . morning. for many sectors in the uk that morning. for many sectors in the uk that have morning. for many sectors in the uk that have been - the uk that have been struggling, like hospitality, this was a huge boost, wasn t it? it this was a huge boost,